@ssa: I hear @Zebras has one where the pull tab that looks like a tiny tree frog!
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A family member of mine found the best solution for her uncle with dementia was a personal amplifier that could be worn on the chest. He kept losing (or chewing on) his hearing aids. I don’t know what his audiogram looked like but he wore big looking BTEs and was pretty deaf without them.
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Yes - it’s simple enough, all right, but would it provide enough power and adjustability to actually work in a profound loss situation?
[Addendum: I’m not expressing a doubt here … I know nothing about devices like the ones you’re talking about and am curious as to whether they are sophisticated enough to really aid speech comprehension.]
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He’s long past RIC HA’s. The AuD gave husband a Phonak Naida UP SP brochure to look at. (My experience with Phonak aids isn’t good)
The biggest problem is Hearing Australia are contracted to sell Signia aids. And trying to get anything but Signia out of them is extremely difficult.
@MDB How does a personal amplifier work with phone calls? As he talks on the phone a lot. The very basic one he had in hospital didn’t seem to help. It was good for conversations with people though. Are the battery operated or need charging? Because his past remembering to charge things.
Nothing wrong with those, Signia is just as good/bad as any others, a couple of models come to mind that could possibly be suitable.
Motion 13P Nx
Motion SP PX (very powerful)
Intuis 3 SP (Basic but powerful)
All are bigger BTE the intuis SP is 675 battery just like the Phonak UP, they qoute 160 hours, so could possibly get 12 days before a change.
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What I meant by that is other brands, Oticon, Resound Enzo, Renton, Widex etc aren’t available to choose from. It doesn’t matter if other companies have a more suitable HA it’s just not available. The AuD just stares at you for daring to ask and shakes her/his head.
I simply don’t know anything about Signia aids other than what my FIL has, and they tend to keep breaking. Wether that’s his fault or not. I trialed them years ago and didn’t like them.
I have worn Rexton, a sister brand for 4 years. The only breakage was receivers that appear to last about 2 years. In my case, though, they have not updated the firmware for newer iPhones.
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Re: Phone calls. I’d guess best solutions for phone are either landline with adjustable volume (usually also have large numbers for visual impairment too) or speaker phone on cell phone. My take is that this is a problem that calls for raw power and not finesse.
I don’t know which personal amplifer my sister used. This: https://www.amazon.com/Williams-Sound-PockeTalker-Amplifier-Microfiber/dp/B00Q72Z5PU/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?c=ts&keywords=Hearing+Amplifiers&qid=1674863534&s=hpc&sr=1-1-spons&ts_id=3775901&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.d977788f-1483-4f76-90a3-786e4cdc8f10&psc=1&smid=A2TORNECBMNNW4&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzVEFGUTY4UkZEMlBLJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjQ2NjEwRDFOSTVFTFNFWEpOJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAyNjEzMTVETUtJVTBGQTQyQ00md2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
looks decent and uses AAA batteries.
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Thanks @MDB, he has 2 of these phones already, one at each phone point. One is newer than the other, and that’s the most used one. Thank you for the link.
Another suggestion for a phone which I have is a Caption Call phone. It captions a receiving call on a fairly large screen. You can get the application on line and have your audiologist sign it. It’s a free phone no charge to you and they will come out and install and show you how to work it. I think now you can get one without internet connection.
He is not in the US and US does not allow telecom relay services (TRS) outside the US market because it is funded with US tax dollars.
Full disclosure: I am deeply involved in the TRS industry.
Cjpines as ssa said caption call pulled out of Australia in 2021. So far our government hasn’t been able to get a replacement for caption call.
I noticed the newest iPhone OS has a captioning function. It might be worth a try.
@prodigyplace he’s 96 and doesn’t own a mobile at all. His dementia and cognitive skills wouldn’t be able to manage one either. But thanks for the thought though.
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OK. We convince our elderly neighbor to get a mobile phone and take it with him when out of the house. Obviously my suggestion does not apply here.
Praying for your situation.
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Your neighbor sounds like me. My son got me a flip-phone as part of his family plan when his first child was a baby (he is now in collage). Pre COVID lockdown, I used it for baby-sitting and transportation tasks. Last Fall his provider changed systems but forgot to tell me. I found out about 6 weeks later when my wife attempted to call me from the airport. I got a replacement phone on Dec 3rd, it will make its first real call Wednesday. When my wife again phones from the airport. But I take it with me whenever I’m away from the house.
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You could make a test call to avoid another surprise.
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That’s a thought, before my wife gets on the plane.
It did work last week.
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Im now in my mid eighties and aids management gets tougher. I also added a pull tab to my hearing aid mold that was difficult to remove as it sat down a bit in the canal. I drilled a hole near the edge of the mold and used a bit of plastic coated tie wire such as comes with electrical wire to tie up the cord. I’m very pleased as to how it works - much easier now. I also bought a lighted magnifying lens that sits on a little stand through Amazon. Very helpful - in my case to remove a tiny pin in my CI so that the mic cover can be changed, Weak ears and getting weaker eyes. Using a pair of tweezers helps to get the battery out of my Phonak hearing aid. Getting the battery out is a bit tricky - putting it in is easy.
My wife’s grandfather was deaf years ago and then lost his wife - so lived alone. His sons got him a dog that was trained to bark at him when the doorbell rang or the phone rang. Grandpa was trained to phone one of his sons every evening - even though he couldn’t hear them - to just say everything was ok with him and then hang up. It was a missed phone call in the end that alerted them to drive to his house and find that he had passed.
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@rsinclair123 : Wow! You guys are tough ol’ birds! I send kindest regards. I will try to help as my knowledge and my wits permit.
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